The Sleeping Beauty

A spin-off of the classic fairytale Sleeping Beauty.

“Of course,” he said, “you've come to the right place, sir.” James watched the old man stepped from the doorway to let him pass. “It's a pleasure to have you here, sir.”

“Thanks.” James still wasn't accustomed to entering houses that had their own door-man. “Uh, so where is she?”

“If you'll just follow me, sir.” The old man closed the door behind them and began to cross the front hall to the staircase. As he ascended the stairs James could hear the old-man's joints were as creaky as the steps he was walking on.

“So, how is she today?” James kept his eyes on his feet as they continued up the never-ending steps.

“The same as always, sir. The doctors still say there are no changes, but she's still holding on. Just like the hope we continue to grasp, sir.”

“You know, you really don't need to call me 'sir' it's not necessary.”

“Nonsense, sir.” James could feel the quiet tension fall over them. “The doctors believe that the move back home may help her heal, being in a familiar room, familiar smells, that sort of thing. We've decided to put her in her old childhood bedroom. More memories and what-have-you.”

“That sounds like a load of nonsense to me.” James couldn't hide the anger from his voice, “She can't see the things around her, I doubt she even knows she's moved from the Hospital, let alone knows she was ever in the hospital. She probably isn't aware of anything that's going on.”

“Hope, sir. Sometimes we just need hope.” The old man headed left after reaching the top of the stairs, going down the dimly lit hall to the last door on the right. “Here we are, sir. Can I bring you anything to eat or a drink?”

“No, I'm fine. I won't be staying long, I've got some other things to do today.”

“As you wish, sir. If you have need for anything, don't hesitate to call.”

“Thanks.” James watched as the man left the pink painted bedroom, closing the door behind him. He looked around the room, everything about it reminded him of a young girl obsessed with fairytales and dreamed of knights in shining armor. “Some knight I am...” James thought as he looked around the room, his gaze stopping on the plush pink bed that held a sleeping woman, surrounded by the soft whir of hospital machines. “You sure know how to pick 'em, don't you?” James walked to the chair that was placed next to the bed. “I can't live up to those Princes in the books,” he said glancing over at the white bookshelf holding all sorts of Rescued-by-Prince-Charming books. “I'm not charming, or daring and I certainly can't save you.” He dropped his head into his hands, holding back each sigh that came up through his chest. Feeling the sighs finally pass he looked back up. The light was streaming through the pink curtains, falling across the face of the girl he missed so much. Her long blonde hair fell in loose waves across her white pillow, the light illuminating her freckles that splashed across her porcelain skin just along the bridge of her nose splattering lightly over her cheeks. James stood up, leaning over his sleeping beauty kissing her softly on forehead. Before pulling away he said his goodbye, “I'll see you tomorrow, Emma. Sleep sweet.”

Walking away towards the door he turned back, “Emma, please wake up. Can you even hear me, is there a reason I keep coming back? Just give me a sign, anything. Please, I miss you.” He held his breath watching Emma lay there in her pale pink bed, waiting for something. Waiting for her to wake up and jump into his arms, waiting for her to do anything. He looked down at the white carpet and before his eyes met the floor they jerked back up towards the curtains. He swore they just fluttered, walking over to them he reached out to the window to close it. It was already closed. “It was just my imagination, I wanted something to happen so I saw it happen.” He walked back to the door and left without another word, saying another silent goodbye in his head.

***

Emma... Emma... -Even hear me? Please...

“James!? James, I'm here. Please, it's dark. James...” Emma looked around through the surrounding darkness. How long has it been since she'd seen the sunlight? “James, I can hear you. Please don't leave me, I can't find my way out of here. I don't even know how I got here. Help me.”

Feeling helpless again, Emma fell to the ground leaning against a withered dead tree. All the trees were dead here, even without leaves they managed to hide the sunlight from her though. “Is there even a sun?” Emma began talking out loud about a week ago, missing sound, missing anything that wasn't an absolute absence of noise and life. She only ever heard the sound to snapping twigs and crunching leaves as she walked around aimlessly, looking for something to break the black silence. “Why am I here? I just don't understand...”

“EMMA!” She heard James yell as her body jerked forward and she was thrown onto the ground. Screeeeeeeeech! The sound of glass shattering was ear-splitting. Emma crawled back to the tree, leaning against it.

“W- What is going on?” Her head was getting dizzy, everything was going blurry, the darkness managed to get darker. She reached her hand to her head and felt a thick warm liquid coat her fingers. “Blood?” The blood streaked her fingertips and she felt it dripping over her face.

“Emma!? Emma, are you alright? Emma, hang on, can you hear me? Em, don't you leave me. I'm so sorry Emma. I'm so sorry, I didn't-”

Emma passed out under the dead withered tree, blood pouring over her face and onto the ground surrounding her. If she had been even slightly conscious, she would have heard a creak. A sound from the abyss of dead trees and sunless cold light. Something snapped within the ground below her.

***

James entered his new apartment, only a few blocks away from Emma's house. After she was transferred from the hospital he thought it would be best to move a little closer to her new residence. It was still early in the afternoon but he was already exhausted. Looking around the small studio from his few unpacked boxes to his freshly made bed he decided to lay down before doing anything else. It didn't take long until he was asleep.

James!?

He could hear Emma's voice, a faint whisper. But where was it coming from? Turning around in search for another noise he took in his surroundings. He was in a forest, a dead forest. Everything was dead, even the dirt looked like it was lifeless, cold and gray. There wasn't even wind. There was nothing, just dead trees.

“James...” It was quieter this time, but he heard it, from behind him.

“Emma?” He ran in the direction of her voice, everything moved past him in a big gray blur. Dodging branches and jumping over roots he ran on and on in the same direction. Nothing seemed to change though, there was no sign of Emma. He began to slow to a jog, looking left and right as he kept running straight ahead. Maybe she's moving? Maybe I should change direction? He thought to himself as he kept moving forward, unable to break from the path he thought would surely lead him to Emma. “Emma!” He felt his patience running thin. He was about to turn around and find his way out when he heard a thump. It was coming from the way he was just running. He ran faster this time, more urgency in his stride. He ran for a few minutes and then he saw her through the gloom, it was Emma!

“Emma! Emma, I'm here.” As he got closer he saw that she was passed out, blood pouring from her head onto the ground, he reached out and grabbed her arm and as soon as his skin touched hers the ground underneath gave out a loud cracking noise, as if something inside snapped and two pieces slid further away from one another. As the noise dissipated he could see the blood on the ground soak into the earth and from each drop and puddle small flowers began to push up through the gray dirt quickly blossoming into flowers ranging from the deepest shade of red to the purest light pink shade.

James backed away from Emma as he watched the flowers grow from the ground, blossoming all around Emma. He watched in awe, almost entranced by the sweet fragrance when a slithering sound brought his wits back to him, he saw from behind the tree thorny vines had begun to push their way over the bark of the tree Emma rested on, they started to slither over her arms and feeling panic as he saw a thorn pierce its way into her arm he reached out and grabbed behind her, picking her up into his arms away from the vines and away from the patch of new flowers. The vines didn't stop there, they began to lash out at him, growing even more quickly as he turned and ran in the opposite direction.

“Don't worry Emma, I won't let anything happen to you this time. I'll get us out of here.” He was losing his breath as he ran as fast as he could with her in his arms. After a good five minutes he finally dared to look back, that was a mistake. He forgot to check the path in front of him before glancing back to see the still fast approaching vines, his foot caught under a root and he fell forward, extending his arms just in time so he didn't fall on top of Emma. The vines began to slither over his feet and that's when he realized, they were after him. He thrashed around trying to get them off as they crept up over his back pinning him to the ground.

“E- Emma..” He looked for help in the still asleep Emma a vine wrapped its way around his throat, making it hard to breathe. His eyes began to roll back into his head as he gasped for breath.

Beep. Beep. Beep.

His eyes grew back into focus, looking around for the source of the beeping. The vine grew tighter still, more of them creeping over his face, he felt a thorn tear into his cheek under his left eye.

Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.

 
Jumping up from his bed he gasped for air. “A dream?” He said aloud, still catching his breath. He could hear a car alarm outside.

 
Beep. Beep.

 
Finally the sound stopped. Looking around still disoriented from the dream he saw the light from a close by lamppost shining in through his window. It was night.

James got up from bed, stretching his arms over his head and bringing them down to rub the sleep from his eyes. Ouch. He felt his left eye, it was stinging. “No way...” He ran to his bathroom, flipped on the light and stared into the mirror waiting for his eyes to focus enough for him to see. There it was, a tiny cut under his eye. His left eye. I must have just cut myself with a finger nail or something, he thought to himself, examining the small nick. That's probably why it was so distinct in the dream, it happened in real life.

 
Shaking off a set of oncoming chills he walked out of the bathroom to his fridge. He pulled out a beer and leftover pizza and walked over to his arm chair, settling in to find something to watch on tv.

***

Emma could feel her arms stinging, shaking off the grogginess she lifted herself up to a sitting position, taking in her new surroundings. She saw tiny cuts across the tops of her arms, wondering where they came from she looked up and saw the tangle of thorny vines behind her.

“Where did those come from?” Emma got to her feet and saw they twisted along the ground for quite a way, as well as a few flowers here and there. She knelt down to the ground to inspect the flowers, plucking one to get a closer look. “Is that, blood?” She could see the specs of red staining the white petals and streaking
across the stem from the ground.

Emma reached her hand up to her head and felt the dried blood crack under her fingers. “What is going on?” Emma dropped the flower to the ground and started walking along the vines with their thorns. The path led to the tree she passed out under, even though it looked like every other tree, this one was different. Surrounding by blood and flowers. “Is the forest coming back to life?” She could see some color from the tree, it was definitely different than the others. It wasn't gray and dead, it was a graying brown color, but brown nonetheless. She could hear something in the distance, but she couldn't make it out.

Emma stood still holding her breath, waiting for a noise. Flapping wings? Wind? Whatever it was it was coming from her right. She began to walk towards the mysterious noise, her excitement making it hard to not burst out into a run. She felt the air around her become heavier and her vision began to get cloudy. Worrying she was about to pass out again she stopped and began to look at her hands, she could still see them clearly, she could see the lines in her palm and the small grooves that made up her fingerprint. She looked at the trees around her, as they got further from her they grew foggier. “Smoke?” She could smell it now, and there was a new noise. Someone was saying her name.

“Emma... Emma.”

Emma ran towards the noise and came upon a startling scene, a green car was curved around a tree, smoke curling up from the bent hood.

“Why is this here?” Emma walked towards the green car, it looked so familiar. She walked over to the driver's window and looked through it to the inside, black seats, two cup-holders, standard car insides when a flash of light caught her eye. Hanging from the mirror was a small silver charm bracelet. “My bracelet!” She reached out for it and held the purple amethyst heart charm that James bought her the first time they celebrated her birthday together. She pulled the bracelet away from the mirror and put it on her wrist, five charms for five different memories " all with James.

“James, will I ever see you again?” She was looking at silver rose charm when she heard a twig snap. She looked up to see a doe standing in front of her, as soon as they locked eyes it ran away. “A doe?” She felt her self lunge forward again, but she was prepared this time, she caught her balance before she hit the ground and ran after the doe, she could see it darting back and forth through the trees. She kept up with the doe pretty easily, but she saw it go behind a tree a few paces ahead of her, and that's where it disappeared. Emma stopped and stared at the tree, waiting for the doe to bolt in any direction when she saw herself step out from behind the tree.

Emma took a few steps back and began rubbing her eyes, blinking furiously trying to make herself disappear.

“What's wrong Em, don't you recognize yourself?” The second Emma smiled slyly looking straight at the startled Emma.

“Why are you here?” Emma was slowly backing away from herself.

“Because you're here. Obviously. I mean, I'm you.”

“Okay, I get that, but why am I seeing you? I mean, me... You?” Emma had backed herself into a tree, she held her hands behind her on the bark, feeling that it was still real.

“Something happened, Em. We're stuck in this place until you pull yourself together. James is waiting for you, you know. He comes to see you every day, ever day for the past five months. Why are you doing this to him?”

“What do you mean? I've only been here for a few weeks, three weeks top. It hasn't been that long.”

“You're really going to trust your judgment? You've been in this tree filled abyss, without food, or sounds, or anything else and you're going to go with what you believe?” Emma smirked at her as she spoke in a mocking tone. “You've got to wake up.”

Emma could hear the sound of shattering glass again, from behind her and she jumped. “But you're me, and if I can't trust myself how can I trust you?”

“Do you see anyone else around that you can trust?” She asked dramatically looking all around them.

“How do I, how do I wake up?” Emma kept her eyes on herself waiting for an answer.

“Well, I don't know. You have to remember first and then after that I'm not really sure...” Emma looked down at her feet trying to think of what she should say next. “I know that when you remember something is going to happen, but I'll stick around as long as I can to help. I've been trying to talk to you for some time now, but I hadn't been able to until recently. I don't know what changed, maybe you just weren't reachable before. I don't know exactly what's going to happen, but everything will be okay if you remember. I have hope.”

“Then how do I remember? What am I even supposed to remember!?” Emma was growing impatient, she was finally finding a way out of this forest and she was being as vague as the doe she was chasing moments earlier.

“How you ended up like this.” She pointed at herself and gestured to the forest surrounding them. “Just retrace your steps, you've been doing really well, just go back and try to remember. I'll figure out the rest.” The second Emma began backing away towards the tree she appeared behind.

“Where are you going?” Emma reached out towards herself as she spoke.

“I have to figure out what to do after you remember, don't worry you can do it. I have faith in you. Me, well,
you.” The second Emma disappeared.

“What is going on?” Emma looked around for a new sign to lead her in the right direction. “Retrace my steps...” Emma looked down at her wrist to her charm bracelet and she went in the direction she thought the green car was.

“Retrace my steps... Retrace my steps...” She repeated this mantra to herself until she came across the same smokey air she stumbled upon earlier. She looked at the car, walked around it a few times, and she couldn't figure out what she was supposed to remember.

“Was it a crash?” She soon heard the shattering glass again, and she saw the doe darting away.

“I'm so sorry, Emma.” It was like a whisper from all around her.

“James?” She looked around and saw the doe again, it looked right at her and then darted away again. “I remember you. You're the last thing I saw, before the... Before the crash.” Emma could feel the blood pouring down her head again, she could see inside the car as the passenger side dashboard began to drip in crimson red liquid. “No, I remembered. You said I'd just have to remember.” Emma barely got the last word out before she crumpled to the ground passed out in a pool of her own blood. Little white daisies began to push their way up through the ground surrounding her.

***

James woke up to the light streaming through his window, the television was on some paid programming show about an amazing-miracle-knife-sharpener. He hit the power button on the remote as he stretched his arms above his head. He looked at the clock by his bed, 4:30 in the morning.

He walked over to the window to see what was going on outside, not much. Then he saw it, a doe. It ran across his view so quickly he almost didn't notice, he opened the window and looked outside, and he saw it again. Standing down the street he saw it, was it waiting for him? James ran out the door so quickly he forgot his shoes. Standing on the street he frantically searched for the doe and he saw it near the corner of the street. He ran after it, turning the corner just in time to see the doe run into the park.

James ran as quickly as he could and almost caught up to the doe when he realized he was in the same forest he was in when he found Emma. “Emma!” Her name slipped out before he had a chance to think about what was going on. He began walking around in search for the doe or Emma when he tripped over a vine. He caught himself and looked around at the ground, the moon shone through the barren trees lighting up the area around him, it was the same vine that attacked him before. It didn't seem to be moving anymore, or after him so he followed it back to where he found Emma. The flowers were still there, but Emma was gone. Feeling lost he sat amongst the daisies and examined his feet, his socks were torn and he had a few scrapes. He let out a sigh and began brushing his hands over the surrounding flowers, when something caught his eye. He looked to his left, expecting to see the doe when he saw her, Emma. Standing behind a tree. “Emma?” As soon as the first syllable left his mouth she was off running. “Why is everything running away from me today?” James jumped to his feet and ran after Emma. “Emma! Where are you going?”

He couldn't see her anymore, she was going back and forth between so many trees she could have veered off at any time and he wouldn't have noticed. Something was shining in front of him, letting of a sparkle of light. He ran for it and came upon a wall of vines and thorns, and hanging from them was a purple heart charm, attached to a silver bracelet. He pulled it off the vine and knew without a doubt that it was Emma's, but he couldn't see through the congregation of vines and giant thorns.

“James...” He could hear Emma on the other side, she spoke so softly it was almost like a whisper. New determination set in as he looked for a way through the last thing separating him from Emma.

***

The second Emma watched in horror as she saw herself fall to the ground dripping blood. Blood poured everywhere and little white flowers managed to pop up from the ground without fail. Walking over to the sleeping Emma she looked around for what she was supposed to do next, but nothing was happening. She started to walk around looking for something to do, when she saw it in the distance. A small little bed.

“Aha! I knew something would happen.” Emma skipped back to her body and began to drag her in the direction of the bed. “Gah, why am I so heavy? I need to build up some muscle tone, sheesh.” Emma finally reached the small bed, it was covered in a soft pink blanket. There was about four feet from the top of the bed to the ground where the unconscious Emma lay. “Well, this should be exciting.” Emma grabbed her arms and heaved her onto the bed, holding her up with one arm while she hoisted her legs up to the bed.

“Hah!” Emma let out a triumphant laugh as she situated herself on the bed in a suitable fashion, no sooner than she placed the sleeping Emma's hand over her stomach, she heard the sound of rustling earth. Turning around she saw vines begin to shoot through the ground, rising up higher and higher into the sky. Panic set in and she began to run for an opening, before she left through the enclosing vines she ran back to Emma and grabbed the charm bracelet off of her arm, running in the same direction. She watched as the vines grew closer and closer together as she neared them, picking up speed she jumped through the last hole before it closed.

Laying on the ground she began gasping for air, “That was way too close.” Emma laid there on the ground waiting for her heartbeat to return to a normal speed. “Guess I'll go look for something else now...” She decided to walk back to the spot where she first able to clearly see Emma, the tree where James found her and tried to run with her as the vines that now surrounded the slumbering Emma chased him down. She walked around the area when she heard something coming towards her, she ran and hid behind the nearest tree and waited for whatever was coming near her.

“Emma!” Shocked to hear her own name she peeked behind the tree to see what was going on. She saw James trip over a vine and right himself. She backed away further from the area to give herself a head start, she needed a plan. Think... Think, think, think, think, think. She looked around and remembered the bracelet in her hand, If I can get him to follow me I can lead him to the vines. I mean, I am Emma, he'll follow me won't he? She thought to herself. She looked out from behind her new tree and saw him sitting amongst the bloody flowers examining his feet. He didn't have shoes on. There, he saw her, time to run. She could hear him gaining on her and she decided to take a note from the doe from earlier and she began waving through the trees to throw him off. She sprinted the last mile to the vines and placed the bracelet in plain sight, just in a little patch of moonlight. She ran off to watch from a distance.

James walked over the the bracelet and studied it for a moment before he began to look around. Now would be a great time for some awesome intervention of some kind, Emma thought to herself as she watched James look around in confusion.

“James...” She watched him jump at the sound of his name, Nice job, Em! Perfect timing to talk in your sleep. Emma silently danced for glee as she watched hope emerge on James' face.

***

James looked all around him until he saw something sticking from the ground not too far away, he walked over to it and saw that it was a sword sticking up from the ground. Pure silver with a rose design on the handle.

“Really? A sword?” James pulled the sword from the ground, half expecting some kind of wind or light to illuminate him as he wielded it for the first time, but nothing happened. “Good.” He held the sword in his hands and gave it a few swings, he could hear the air move away from the blade in a few quick swishing noises. Then he turned his attention to the less daunting vines and began to slash away. They began to wither where the sword sliced them, and a path emerged before him.

It wasn't long after that he could see a clearing in front of him. He pushed through the last few swings from his sword as the clearing came more into focus. That's when he saw her.

Emma lay on the soft pink bed in front of him and he dropped the sword and walked towards her. It was almost like a dream, the moonlight was streaming in a way that it lit up her face. “So, which am I, Em? Am I the Knight in Shining Armor or am I Prince Charming? Because the sword has me a little confused.” He walked towards her waiting for a response, but just like she's been for the past 5 months, she was silent, and asleep. “I don't really know what I'm doing here, Em. I'm pretty sure this is a dream, but I have no idea.” He was standing by her side now. He reached out for her wrist and slipped her bracelet over her arm.

“If this is a dream, wake up right now. Don't do this to yourself, James. You're not charming, and you can't save her just by giving her a bracelet or a kiss.” James was looking around, waiting for some kind of answer from the silence. What would a kiss hurt? “She's asleep, she's unconscious. It's wrong, what gives me the right to just kiss her without her permission? What if she doesn't kiss me back? What if it's all for nothing.” Just do it. James was having a silent/talking-to-himself conversation and neither side was winning.

“Fine, just one kiss. It's not like it's the first time we've kissed, I just don't want to lose her.” He turned towards Emma and picked up a lock of her hair. As he leaned in to kiss her he could smell something strange, it was a familiar musky smell. As he looked around he felt his foot growing wet, looking down he saw that his sock was soaked in something. “Oh no.” He looked back to Emma and saw that she was gone, everything around him was fading.

***

James could feel the annoying comfort of his chair, the musky smell finally registering in his mind. He spilled his beer, all over his foot. He didn't want to open his eyes, he knew what he'd see. It'd be around 8 in the morning, his television would be playing some obscure show, and he'd be alone in his room with a beer soaked sock.

He opened his eyes and pulled off his socks, using them to soak up the remaining beer on the floor. Standing up from his chair, he threw his wet socks into the laundry hamper, finally daring a glace at the clock. 4:30 a.m. “Really?” He couldn't take it anymore, “I'm going back to bed.” He went to pull off his pants when he felt something in his pocket, he pulled out the last thing he expected to see, a silver charm bracelet. Emma's bracelet. Without another thought he ran out the door towards Emma's house. As he approached the door he stopped and thought to himself, It's four in the morning, I shouldn't wake everyone up.

Before he could turn around the door opened. “Sir, I just tried to call you and was unsuccessful. It's Emma, she said your name just now, I thought you'd like to know.”

James couldn't believe it, he pulled the bracelet up in front of them. “I found this.”

“Emma's bracelet, sir! I thought it was lost after the accident.” The look of disbelief on the Butler's face probably matched the same one on James'. “Please, let's not doddle, sir. Come in, come in.” James followed the man inside and up the stairs to Emma's room. “I'll just leave you alone, sir. Call if you need anything.”

James walked over to the chair that still sat next to Emma's pink bed, the moonlight streaming through the window just as it had amidst the dead trees and thorns. Stay calm, you can do this. James picked up her arm and placed the charm bracelet onto her wrist for the second time tonight and he leaned down and gave her a kiss. After a second, nothing happened and he was just about to pull away when he felt a pair of soft lips push back against his.

“James.”

“Emma!” James about jumped from his spot next to the bed, “You're awake, you're here!” He reached down and pulled her up into his arms, as he pulled her towards him he could feel a few little scabs up and down her arms.

“You saved me.” Emma nuzzled her face into James' neck. “Uhm, why aren't you wearing shoes?” She looked down at his dirty feet in confusion.

“It's a long story, Em.”

Author's Note

After years of not writing and never finishing anything, I finally managed something from start to finish. A big thanks to my boyfriend, who motivated and pushed me to finish this. It was actually a writing prompt that he and I came up with, you start with a line from another story and then build a story based off of it.

Any feedback is welcomed and appreciated.